IO Interactive
Io-Interactive (commonly abbreviated to IOI) is a Danish video game development company formerly owned by Square Enix. The company was founded in September 1998 by the Reto-Moto development group. To date their most popular franchise is the critically acclaimed Hitman series. This team is also known for their references (also known as an Easter egg) to their own games, such as Agent 47 advertising designer clothes in Freedom Fighters or Hitman: Absolution featuring Kane & Lynch. History Io-Interactive was founded in September 1998 in Copenhagen, Denmark. Initially an independent company, Io-Interactive developed their debut title, Hitman: Codename 47, in 2000. The game was published through Eidos Interactive, and, upon release, received generally positive critical reception, being praised for its wide range of weapons, the smart AI and the realism, while being criticized for its lackluster camera, length and not living up to expectations. The game currently has a score of 73/100 on review aggregate site Metacritic, indicating "mixed or average reviews". They followed this up in 2002 with Hitman 2: Silent Assassin, which was critically acclaimed upon released. IGN said "It's a phenomenal game in its own right, and one that's sure to have broad appeal, particularly among those gamers who like to put a little more thought into their carnage." The game, on PC, currently holds a Metacritic average of 87/100, indicating "generally favorable reviews", and a GameRankings score of 84.88% on PC. This game was again published by Eidos Interactive. They then followed this up with the 2003 video game Freedom Fighters, a tactical shooter, published through Electronic Arts .Freedom Fighters received critical acclaim across the board, as represented by their Metacritic scores, 81/100 for PS2, 82/100 for Xbox, 83/100 for GameCube and 80/100 for PC. Shortly afterwards, they were purchased by Eidos Interactive, ending their six years of independence. Around the same time, they released Hitman: Contracts, which was met with mixed reviews. The PS2 and Xbox versions of the game were generally positive, 80/100 for PS2 and 78/100 for Xbox respectively on Metacritic, the PC version has a 74/100, indicating mixed or average reviews. Hitman: Blood Money soon followed in 2006 and marked the fourth game in the Hitman series. It became one of their most critically acclaimed games to date, and sold the most units out of any other entry to the series up to that point. This would be the last installment in the series for another six years, before the release of Hitman: Absolution in November 2012. The developers took a six year hiatus from the development of Hitman, arguably their most popular franchise. Their next game was Kane & Lynch: Dead Men, which followed the ventures of criminals Kane and Lynch as they attempted to pull off a heist. Kane & Lynch: Dead Men wasn't popular upon release with critics, being criticized for its length and lack of originality. The next venture by the developer was Mini Ninjas, which departed from IO Interactive's usually violent, adult games. Mini Ninjas received generally mixed reception upon release, with only the Nintendo Wii version earning itself acclaim. In 2009, they were made to work under Square Enix following their acquisition of their parent company, Eidos Interactive. Their next game was the second installment of the Kane & Lynch,series, entitled Kane & Lynch 2: Dog Days. This game received generally mixed reviews, being criticized for its extremely short length and lack of any real innovation. They then made the next installment in the Hitman series, Hitman: Absolution. As with most other installments, the game received critical acclaim upon its November 2012 release, though there was some anxiety about the game being dumbed down for the interests of modern audiences. Recently, their parent company Square Enix ran into financial difficulties and they had large numbers of employees cut to save money. In addition to this, it was confirmed that Io-Interactive would be working solely on Hitman 6. IO Interactive performed a management buyout in June 2017, becoming independent and regaining the rights to their Hitman and Freedom Fighters franchises. IO Interactive's most recent game is Hitman 2, which was released in November 2018. External links *io.dk Official page *IO Interactive on Wikipedia